‘Extreme violence’: Threats against politicians soar

Federal politicians face increasingly menacing security risks including threats to kill and threats of sexual violence, and the number of reports is set to break records this year.

Federal police say they are alarmed by the surge and are urging parliamentarians to protect their safety during the upcoming federal election campaign. A May 3 poll is expected to be called on Friday.

AFP Commissioner Reece Kershaw said he was troubled by the rise of threats against politicians.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Australian Federal Police Commissioner Reece Kershaw said there have already been 712 reports of threats against high office holders, federal parliamentarians, dignitaries and electorate offices this financial year.

At this rate, the number of threats will surpass those received the previous year, he said.

Female politicians face especially troubling threats of sexual violence in the increasingly febrile political environment, he said.

Threats against politicians and staff members have almost doubled in the past three years, rising from 555 in 2022 to 1009 last year.

“The politicians who have been targeted are across the political spectrum, live throughout Australia and are of different faiths,” Kershaw told Senate estimates hearings on Thursday afternoon.

Kershaw revealed that federal police have charged six men in five separate incidents for threatening parliamentarians over the past 13 weeks, one man for allegedly threatening a political organisation.

Their ages ranged from 29 to 64 years.

Kershaw said it was “ridiculous” that some people seemed to think it was acceptable to threaten politicians because of political disagreements.

“Free speech does not extend to freely expressing how they plan to kill someone or sexually assault them,” he said.

The Melbourne office of Jewish MP Josh Burns was vandalised last June.Credit: Chris Hopkins

“Where we can, and where we have the willingness of victims, we lay charges.”

Kershaw urged politicians to contact police for advice on how to protect themselves during the federal election because they may face increased risks.

“Australia’s politicians and high office holders are being targeted because they have a public profile, because of the comments they have made in the media or their positions on policy,” he said.

“However, in some cases, it appears male offenders are targeting women because they are women.

“The AFP will not tolerate this criminality and will take swift action.”

Kershaw said that “the nature of threats and comments directed at female parliamentarians and high office holders is particularly troubling, with a common feature being offensive material centred on derogatory language about their appearance”.

“Some of this material also contains extremely violent themes, including threats of graphic, sexual violence,” he said.

“These threats, which are being made online or are being sent in the post or over the phone, are sometimes also directed at their children.”

A Victorian man was charged this month with allegedly making death threats and antisemitic comments to a federal member of parliament.

A Northern Territory man was charged last year with allegedly sending threatening and harassing emails to federal politicians.

The electorate offices of Defence Minister Richard Marles and Labor MPs Josh Burns and Peter Khalil have been targeted with graffiti by anti-Israel protesters since the beginning of the war in Gaza.

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